King Charles is ‘worried’ Earl Spencer is a ‘ticking time bomb’ ahead of book release

It’s no secret that when the British public found out that former Prince Charles had been having an affair with Camilla Parker Bowles in 1992, the future King’s approval ratings plummeted.

Andrew Morton’s bombshell ‘Diana: Her True Story’ biography revealed the affair in the early 1990s, before Princess Diana went on the BBC’s Panorama and told Martin Bashir: ‘There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.’

Now, it appears the King’s reputation is taking another hit after Diana’s brother, Earl Spencer, revealed in his new book that just days after Diana died in 1997, Charles allegedly told him: ‘Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough.’

The palace has pushed back on the claims, issuing a statement reading: ‘While we do not comment on books as a matter of principle, His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss.’

Royal expert Duncan Larcombe has now told Metro that Earl Spencer’s book is posing a ‘real problem’ for King Charles, who had been preoccupied with Harry and Meghan’s return to Britain.

‘For Earl Spencer to say that the King, when he was Prince Charles, was ruthless and uncaring after that terrible accident is an astonishing accusation from somebody that the public still remembers for his speech at his sister’s funeral,’ Mr Larcombe told Metro.

‘And the fact that the Palace have taken this extraordinary step of responding to it so quickly and publicly shows just how seriously King Charles is taking this,’ he added.

‘Normally, the response is always the same: ‘We do not comment on private conversations.’ This reaction has been so different. They didn’t wait for the book to even hit the shelves before they’d got their defence in.

‘I think that’s an indication that they are so extremely worried that the public will have an adverse reaction to the king because of these alleged comments.’

Next year marks the 30th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death, and Mr Larcombe says Earl Spencer’s allegations have marked a ‘cataclysmic’ start to the milestone.

‘This moment is the calm before the storm,’ he added.

‘Diana was the biggest threat the British establishment had for decades. As her brother, I think the royal family is very worried that Earl Spencer may speak out publicly and criticise the institution again. This book shows that rather than him letting bygones be bygones, he was a ticking time bomb waiting to go off.’

Today, senior royals are set to be seen in public carrying out official engagements after the palace took the rare step of responding to the allegations in the upcoming book.

Diana’s brother Earl Spencer claims that days after her car crash death, he told Charles that she wouldn’t want the boys to make the public walk behind her coffin.

Princess Diana died on August 31, 1997, aged 36, from injuries sustained in a car accident in Paris. Her chauffeur Henri Paul also died.

At the time, William and Harry were aged just 15 and 12, respectively, and made the heartbreaking public funeral procession alongside their father.

In his book, serialised in the Daily Mail, Earl Spencer recalls telling one of Queen Elizabeth’s aides that William and Harry walking in the procession at such a young age was ‘not going to happen.’

He claims the then Prince Charles rang him back to tell him that he had walked in the funeral procession of Lord Mountbatten, his great ‘uncle Dickie’.

When Spencer hit back, saying that Charles was 30 at that funeral, there was a pause on the phone.

Earl Spencer wrote: ‘I assumed the pause signalled an effort to bring himself under control, but then he unleashed down the phone what I have always taken to be his pent-up contempt for Diana, and his horror that the world was so bowled over by her death.

“Rest assured,” he hissed, “we’ll forget her soon enough.”‘

The couple had been separated since December 1992, but the divorce wasn’t finalised until August 1996, a year before her death.

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